ALMOST FAMOUS And The Family Whistle

NOTE: This blog post previously began with a clip of a scene from 'Almost Famous'. The clip is no longer available on youtube.

Subtle is the hardest thing of all. Everyone wants more. But this scene is one of my all time favourite scenes, of any film, ever. And you could say that nothing happens in it.

But for me, everything happens in it.

Cameron Crowe is great at that. The little moments.

Penny and William are leaving the auditorium long after the concert has finished and the bands have gone home. It's that moment three hours after the thing when you're with someone and the moment means something. We've all had them, but they're impossible to capture in art.

But paradoxically, that is exactly what art is for. To capture those precise moments.

In this scene we have a fifteen year old boy fulfilling his dream. And falling in love. And feeling the pressure from his Mother who wants him to be a lawyer (the whilsting in the background is her.. it's a great touch).

And Nancy Wilson's musical score is perfect. The scene wouldn't work without it. A Crowe film isn't a Crowe film without Wilson's score. Cameron Crowe and Nancy Wilson recently announced their divorce, which could well mean an end to their collaborations on the big screen, but I hope not.

Almost Famous isn't about the bomb dropping or the car exploding. It's about the way people look at each other. The way they feel. The music they love. It doesn't get any better than this.

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